


Salvation Day

by Fritti13



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Post-Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 09:34:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18688825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fritti13/pseuds/Fritti13
Summary: ****WARNING: ENDGAME SPOILERS****The world hasn't forgotten. 10 years after the events of Infinity War: Endgame, two MIT graduates witness something miraculous.Outsider POV.  OC's are for narrative purposes only.  They are not the focus.





	Salvation Day

So, I'm gonna tell you a story and, like, I know it's gonna be hard to believe, but (I swear!) it's the absolute truth.

Me and Babs, we decided to take the year after graduating from MIT to do the “Martyr's Tour” and, you know, check off as many monuments to the The Martyr's as possible in a years time. Not an easy task, let me tell you. I know it's become kind of a popular thing to do, but we were determined to break the record of all the monuments we could squeeze in over the year. 

We'd already been to Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia and Central America. We heard there was even a little cairn set up at McMurdo base in Antarctica, but we decided that was just a bit too much. 

Of the hundreds of statues, monuments, cairns, memorials, shrines, markers and effigy's we'd seen over the last several months, I think my personal favorites so far were the ones in Paris, Cairo, Colorado and D.C.

The Paris monument was amazing. It's made of colored stainless steel and has Iron Man kneeling in his trademark 3 point landing, the other hand out in his quintessential repulsor pose with Black Widow by his side, also kneeling, with her arms extended and Widow's Bites charged. TheWidows Bites, the armors eyes and the repulsor all glow blue. There's this huge ass fountain behind them that sprays water in this complicated fan-like display and it's lit from underneath in reds and blues and the whole thing just gives you shivers.

The one's in Cairo are built at the entrance to the Valley of the Kings and, I kid you not, those statues must be 500 feet tall! There's one on either side of the main entrance and they did both of them up in kind of an Egyptian style, in stone and everything. It's incredible! 

The carving in Colorado takes a page right out of the Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse carved sculptures. They fuckin' carved those figures right outta the side of the mountain and they look like somethin' right outta the Lord of the Rings. The sheer magnitude and nobility of the Iron Man and Black Widow images on the side of that mountain almost brought me to my knees. I know Babs cried.

The feeling of gratitude you get looking at all of these remembrances, all around the world, and the flowers and gifts left with them, even after 10 years, it's kind of overwhelming. And I get it. I do. Half my family were gone and, even now, 10 years later, it chokes me up. It's so weird to have my older sister, Babs, be the same age as me now and graduating MIT together. We are both so damn thankful. That's one of the reasons we wanted to do this tour and it's given me an appreciation so much greater than I had before. It's eye opening. 

Then there is the statues in D.C., erected on the grounds of the National Mall. I think this one is my favorite of all of them. It's only about 20 feet high but it's made all of white marble and the artist made it so lifelike that you can almost feel Tony Stark's eyes gazing into your soul. It's also one of my favorites because Iron Man has his helmet off and it's Tony Stark, standing with his feet apart, facing West and holding up his left arm with the Infinity Gauntlet, his fingers poised to make The Snap. Natasha Romanoff stands at his back, facing East with a fierce, proud look on her face and her hand holding up the Soul Stone. They look so alive and so damn heroic that you just kinda want to kneel in front of them. There's always flowers piled around the base and letters, notes and little trinkets tucked around their feet. 

I think this one is Babs' favorite, too, although she's always kidding me that the painting at that little, cheesy shrine in Romania is her favorite, which always cracks me up because it looked like a Boris Vallejo rip off painting with Tony and Natasha half naked, oiled up and over-muscled in overdramatic poses. 

So, anyway, getting back to the whole purpose of this story... it was Salvation Day, exactly 10 years to the day that the Martyr's saved the whole damn universe and the last day of our tour. We'd managed to visit 411 sites in 365 days and we'd already broken the previous record, but we had to get this last one in. We thought it was only fitting that we ended our year long trek at **the** place. The site of the old Avengers Compound, now turned into a memorial. It's not even that big, just a few acres, with a museum and picnic spots. But it was **the** spot, **that** spot, where Tony Stark snapped his fingers and changed the world, again, and died. It's really not that spectacular. Just a cairn, really. But a really nice one with a plaque on the front. But it's the **feel** of the place, ya know? It's feels … it feels almost … holy. The plaque just reads:

Here, on this spot, the universe was returned to its natural order

because of the heroic efforts of The Avengers and the selfless

sacrifice of The Black Widow - Natasha Romanoff

and Iron Man – Tony Stark.

May they rest in Eternal Peace

And it's not like Black Widow died on that spot, either but, you know, it's not like anyone could have set up a shrine on the spot **she** died, so she gets to share Tony's spot, I guess.

So, we had intended to get there in the early evening and wrap our tour up in style with a little party afterwards but there was an accident on the highway and we got delayed by a few hours. We were starting to panic that we wouldn't be able to get the Avengers site in before it hit midnight and our official year was up, but we made it right around 11:30 P.M. The park was already closed for the night, but we had to do this, so we climbed over the gates and headed toward the Shrine. I wish we'd gotten here early enough to go through the Infinity War museum. I'd been through it about 5 years ago and it was awe-inspiring, with photos and videos and write ups of all the heroes that fought in the Infinity War, but I hear they've added some new relics and shit now, including the actual gauntlet that Princess Shuri wore, so I'd really like to see it again.

We were kind of sneaking, cuz we weren't supposed to be there, so we were keeping to the outer edges in the trees cuz the place was lit up. It's always lit up. There's also an eternal flame set up in front of the cairn so that puts out light, too, although not much. Enough to catch us on camera, though, if there is any security set up, so we were being careful. It wouldn't do to get hauled off before we could snap a photo to prove we'd been here. So, we were in the trees about 50 feet from the cairn when there was this kind of rumbly roar in the distance and the leaves on the trees started to tremble. 

Talk about freaked out! I was like “Holy SHIT! It was almost midnight on Salvation Day and something is going down here, of all places!” Babs was clutching my arm so tight she left bruises, but she wasn't moving one inch. Babs isn't one to panic, gotta say that. She just looked excited. So, we were lookin' around, trying to figure out what was going on, when (I kid you not!) fuckin' WAR MACHINE comes in for a landing right in front of the cairn! I coulda shit my pants right there, but it got **better**. 

A minute after he landed, two more iron suits came zooming in and I realized that it was Rescue and Iron Heart. Holy Shit Fuck! Like, no way! They all retracted their helmets and hugged each other. Colonel Rhodes still looks good, even at his age, and Pepper Stark will always be beautiful. I'd seen photos of Morgan Stark in magazines, but Jesus Fuckin' Christ, she's gorgeous. Jail bait at 15, don't get me wrong, and I'll take anyone down who makes a lewd comment about her, but she's gonna be a heartbreaker. All that long, thick, dark hair and those huge brown eyes. Yea, she's a knock out, but I'm betting she can repulsor anyone's ass if they try anything funny. I'd read about the Iron Heart armor, but this is the first time I'd seen it.

Babs was almost hyperventilating next to me and I think this is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me and I'm not sure how anything is ever going to top this but then... it got even **better still!** I heard the now familiar sound of flying armor approaching and Ferrous comes flying in with fuckin' Spiderman hanging from him by webs and I realized, in that instant, that the entire Iron Family was assembled in front of Tony Stark's memorial as Salvation Day was coming to a close. It was almost too much to comprehend. The two new arrivals land and the Iron Spider cowl retracted. The young man looks so much like Tony that it's hard to believe that he's not his real son. It was only two years ago that Peter Parker's identity as Spiderman came out, but the 26 year old seems to have handled the publicity like a champ. 

The helmet of the other armor retracted, too, and it was the first time I'd ever seen Harley Keener. I'd heard about him, of course. Who hasn't? The 27 year old that took up the Iron Man mantle? He refused to call himself that, of course. Couldn't stand the thought of taking on That Name, so he calls himself Ferrous which, you know, is kind of cool, too. 

Morgan Stark ran up to them and flung her arms around both of them and you can tell that they're like 2 brothers with their kid sister. It's kinda cute, especially when Spiderman got her head in the crook of his arm and gave her a noogie. 

And there they were, the Iron Family. Pepper Stark, James Rhodes, Morgan Stark, Peter Parker and Harley Keener or, if you want to get formal about it, Rescue, War Machine, Iron Heart, Spiderman and Ferrous. Wow. I mean fuckin' WOW. And you can tell that they all love each other, like, it's not some nickname... The Iron Family... no, it's real. They really are a family. It was nearing midnight and Babs and I were looking at the most famous family on earth, 20 feet away. I thought I was gonna piss myself. They were all hugging and smiling at each other, although you can see this sadness, ya know? And I get it. 10 years ago today the world, Hell the entire universe, lost a legend. Two legends, really. It's hard. But for them it's gotta be huge. A husband, a brother, a father. Rough, man.

I snapped a picture on my Starkphone of the group and I was getting ready to just slink away quietly, give the family some privacy to remember The Man, when Babs hissed something at me and I turned back. You could have set a bomb off right behind me and I wouldn't have noticed cuz, as God is my witness, I was looking at this swirling gold fireworks display that just popped up out of nowhere, fizzing and popping and getting bigger and bigger and then there was this hole in the middle of the air and you could SEE through it! Like it's a window looking into someplace else but just hanging in the air with nothing behind it. And then this guy stepped out and he looked like an extra from Assassin's Creed or something. It clicked right away, of course. It had to be Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. He's not seen much out in public, but there are photos of him if you look hard enough on the internet and he's in the history books and museum displays about the Infinity War.

Babs was back to clutching my arm like she was trying to dig through my skin as we watched Dr. Strange talk to the Iron Family and I thought it was just going to be some kind of private remembrance thing and I was feeling kind of stalkerish but then the Sorcerer took a couple of steps back and started making circles with his arms and muttering words that I couldn't make out from that far away. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to understand them, anyway, even if I could have heard them.  
I could see Iron Heart was clutching the hands of Rescue and War Machine and the looks on their faces were somewhere between anticipation and grief. Spiderman and Ferrous stood a couple of feet behind them, but you could tell that they were nervous, too.

At first I didn't think anything was going to happen. Dr. Strange was starting to shake a little but he was still muttering and making circles. Then the golden fireworks started up again, only this time there seemed to be some silver sparks in there, too, and the sound was just a bit different. Not quite so fizzy and with a bit of a high pitched whine to it. Then another large circle opened up and out stepped this figure, but it was a bit blurry around the edges and you could kind of see through it. It took me a moment to figure it out, and Babs must have, too, because she suddenly started to sob quietly beside me.

I was actually looking at the ghost of Tony Stark. Fuckin' Iron Man himself. This was probably the greatest moment of my life. I couldn't breathe. If you looked real close, you could see the vague impression of another person through the portal. Shades of red and black. I think it was the Black Widow. I know I had tears streaming down my face. I wasn't the only one. I could see Morgan and Pepper Stark were openly crying, too. I'm not sure, but I think Colonel Rhodes, Peter Parker and Harley Keener were shedding a few manly tears, too.

They were all talking quietly. I couldn't hear what was being said, but Mr. Stark was gesturing toward each of the members of his family in turn and they were speaking back to him. He couldn't touch them. He was too ethereal, but he looked … good, I guess. For a ghost, that is. It must have been 15 minutes or so. I wasn't really looking at my watch, but it wasn't too long. Babs was still sobbing her heart out and I was just staring but I noticed that Dr. Strange was really starting to shake and pant a lot. Whatever he was doin', it was taking a lot out of him. When he finally went to one knee, the others noticed as well. 

Ironman turned back to his family and I know they were saying their farewells. I couldn't hear it, of course, but you could tell by the looks on their faces. Mr. Stark finally patted his hand over his heart and I could actually read his lips when he said “I love you all.” Then he stepped back through the portal and it just disappeared. Dr. Strange fell forward on his hands and knees and was panting like he'd just run a marathon. Colonel Rhodes and Mr. Parker helped him up and they talked for a bit. Babs was still crying silently next to me. 

Finally, Dr. Strange made another portal and left and, soon after that, War Machine, Iron Heart and Rescue took to the skies. Ferrous and Spiderman both turned and laid their hands on the cairn and said something to it, but of course I was too far away to make out what. Then Ferrous powered up his repulsors and began to lift off. Just before Spiderman flung out webs to catch a ride with Ferrous, he turned his head and he looked me right in the eye. I think somewhere I'd read that he had enhanced senses. I remembered that too late, though. He'd known we were there all along. Anyway, he looked me right in the eyes, nodded, pulled his hood on and then he was gone, swinging along after Ferrous. 

I stood there, stunned. It was after midnight, now. Babs and I finally made our way out of the trees and slowly approached the cairn. More than ever, I felt like I was walking on hallowed ground. My legs were actually shaking. We stood in front of that cairn and neither one of us could say a word. I just lay my hand on the stones in front of me and bowed my head in thanks. I thanked The Martyrs for my Dad and my Grandma. I thanked them for my big-little sister now at my side. I thanked them for my girlfriend and my best friend. I thanked them for all of the people who thought they had lost so much, only to be gifted with a second chance. I hope they know. I hope they can see, from where ever they are, the difference they've made in so many lives, here and all over the universe.

Eventually, we found our way back to our car. We sat there for a moment, just gathering our thoughts and then Babs turned to me, a slow smile blooming on her face and held up her phone. 

“I got it all on video” she whispered and I knew that nothing was ever going to be the same for us again.

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Yes, I realize that Riri Williams is Iron Heart in the 616 universe, but this is the MCU universe and, in my little part of it, I've decided that Morgan Stark is going to wear that mantle.
> 
> Ferrous: (chiefly of metals) containing or consisting of iron. I thought it would make a cool super hero name.


End file.
